The Unclad Soul

I didn’t listen to any news last night. I was on Netflix enjoying a reprieve from the daily chaos. It was this morning that I saw on the news the horror that took place in France last night. What has happened to the human race? I think of Emerson’s sad line, “Man is a god in ruins.” The political pundits are already stirring the pot, pumping politicians for outrageous comments. The politicians are well into their war talk threatening more violence for violence. The security experts are calling for even more surveillance, defense measures, and limitations on the movements of people. But no one seems to be talking about the root of the problem. We can build up defenses and create all kinds of temporary and permanent protections, and those are certainly needed. But what are we going to do about the ideology behind those who have lost any sense of human value? What do we do with dispossessed, angry, psychologically and physically damaged people who don’t care about anyone or a...

This comment is the best I've seen so far regarding the Boston tragedy. It comes from retired Anglican Bishop the Rev. Steven Charleston. It was posted on my friend Dale McNeil's page. "Why? Why the pointless cruelty, O God? Why the premeditated evil that comes to bring death, pain and sorrow to innocent lives and leaves us stunned to imagine a heart so cold it could conceive such an act? We cannot understand it, God, we cannot make sense of the senseless. And how should we respond even if we did understand? Tooth for tooth, eye for eye, would it end the madness or return the lost to live again? Come, Spirit of God, come stand with us in this darkness. Hold the fallen in your arms. Heal the injured. Comfort the broken-hearted. And if you cannot tell us why we do this to ourselves, show us how to love more deeply, that such pain will never be the final word, but rather mercy that needs no explanation."